


Conspiritorial Distractions

by Rukioh



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Thor (2011), Gen, Miscommunication, Odin sleeps through his responsibilities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:55:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22772116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rukioh/pseuds/Rukioh
Summary: In which Loki isn't the only one who thinks that making Thor the king of Asgard is a terrible idea, people are way too busy running away from people who want them dead to worry about blowing up other realms and things all turn out well in the end because I say so.
Relationships: Eir & Loki (Marvel), Frigga | Freyja & Loki (Marvel), Frigga | Freyja/Odin (Marvel), Loki & Odin (Marvel)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 66





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> So this is an AU of the first Thor film. Is this a Thor AU because I'm in denial about Asgard being blown up in Ragnarok? Yes. Very much so. I'm going right back and writing fanfiction set before anything went wrong because I am just scarred by everything that's happened recently. Thanos no longer exists because I say so. Ha!
> 
> By the way, I originally posted this on fanfiction.net but my school has it blocked so I'm cross-posting it here.

Loki strode through the golden halls of the lower Citadel with his head down, contemplative, a purposefully blank look on his face. He had just come from Jotunheim. The Jotun king had done exactly as he had expected. In his ambition to kill the king of Asgard, in his thirst for revenge, he had barely considered that Loki may be leading him into a trap. He would fall right into it. Loki just needed to follow through with the plan and everything would be fine.

Heimdall had been suspicious. He always was when it came to Loki. Perhaps the all-seeing Heimdall feared that which he couldn't see. Maybe it was because he knew what he was. Perhaps he should not have used the Bifrost. He could, if he wanted to, have traveled there himself, completely unseen but he had decided not to. He was the king, he would appear official. He could do as he pleased and Heimdall couldn't stop him now. He relished in that.

He knew Heimdall thought that he was a traitor. His opinion didn't matter. He would show him tonight. He'd prove his loyalty to all of Asgard tonight. They would see him as a hero. Heimdall could not disobey him regardless. He was the king regent. No one could say no to him anymore.

The interaction still left him seething.

As he walked through the hallway bordering the servants' halls, he passed groups of servants carrying out their usual duties. Their talking all blurred together into a single, indistinguishable wall of noise. Loki didn't listen to them. They all immediately scurried out of his way when they noticed him, parting the crowd for him to walk through. Many bowed. He felt like he was being mocked. He could feel their scorn for him underneath their polite gestures. He knew he wasn't liked in Asgard. He couldn't be. Not with what he'd learned the night before being true. Not before he'd proven himself a hero like his brother. He made sure not to look back at them, regretting not just using his first instinct to jump straight across Yggdrasil to the throne room. He considered casting a small diversion charm over himself so that people wouldn't notice him. He decided against it. He had to hold himself as the king ought. He lifted his chin and tried to project an air of confidence he didn't feel.

The next corridors he walked through were much less busy. Only a few people passed him. He told himself that it was because it was a shortcut, not in any way because he was shying away from the crowds of people. Crowds of Aesir who looked upon him with scorn and who only thought he was one of them due to a flimsy shapeshift. Who could see through him at any moment. He put that out of his mind. He turned another corridor, this one almost abandoned. He could only hear the voices of two women ahead of him. He didn't pay any attention to their conversation. It was likely inane.

"… kill Thor?"

That phrase caught in Loki's ear and stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Do you think it's still necessary?"

"He is banished. No longer in the line of succession."

They hadn't seen him yet. He glanced behind himself to see if anyone else was in the hallway and disappeared from sight, walking invisibly closer to them. They were talking about Thor. About his death. About wanting him dead. He continued to listen, trying to figure out more of what was going on. They continued.

"Will everyone else agree though?" said the younger of the two.

There were others! Was this some big conspiracy?

"It isn't our business." The elder shook her head, looking at the younger sternly. "We need not speak further on this."

He didn't recognise the older woman, but he did recognise the younger. He had seen her around the healing rooms – an apprentice from Vanaheim if he remembered right.

"But they might," said the girl, wanting to continue the conversation. "You must admit, he is unbelievably vulnerable right now. It would be so easy to…"

"We should not speak further on this."

"It is only simple discussion. What harm is there?"

"It's but idle chatter in our mouths," the elder closed. "You shouldn't concern yourself with what doesn't concern you, Rus."

The girl shrugged her shoulders and looked like she wanted to argue but saw no point.

"You should get back to your duties," she continued. "I will see you again later this evening."

"What's the point in involving me in this if I can't do anything?" asked the girl.

"We shouldn't talk about this in the open. Anyone could be listening."

The girl seemed to concede the point and turned, saying "Goodbye mother," before they both parted in different directions.

Loki dropped the spell surrounding himself and became visible again. He looked back at the two as they left, eyes wide and brows furrowed, for a few seconds before turning back around and hurrying to the throne room as fast as he could.

When he got there and was sitting once again on Hlidskjalf, he turned the sight it gave him across the nine realms to Midgard. Thor was no longer held captive by those mortals but was otherwise in the same state he had left him in when he visited him. He was unharmed. Loki wasn't sure what he expected. He put one of his knuckles up to his mouth and leaned back in his Father's throne, contemplative. He was relieved, but he couldn't help the fear that someone would come to try and kill Thor while he was mortal. The two servants had spoken of others who were planning to do so.

* * *

The warriors three and Sif had come to him to ask for Thor to come back. He denied them, obviously. Thor could not come back. He would ruin everything! They had clearly disagreed with him, though most of them had tried to hide it. Sif had barely bothered. Her disdain for him had always been obvious to anyone. They were supposed to be his friends but he knew that when it came down to it they were loyal solely to Thor and each other. He had never been one of them. At least now they were forced to listen to him. They couldn't brush him aside anymore. Irking them with that fact was much too amusing. It didn't help him win their favour but he'd already given up on that completely.

He heard footsteps approaching the throne. They belonged to Eir, the head healer in the Asgardian Citadel. He was thankful to see her. She had never held the same animosity towards him as other people had. She smiled as she saw him.

"Loki."

"Eir," he replied, standing up from the throne.

"My king I should say." She put her fist across her chest and bowed her head, then looked up at him, smiling. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

Loki found himself smiled along with her and raised his eyebrows. "I must say that everyone being obligated to follow me is not unwelcome."

She smiled again. "I didn't believe it would be."

As much as he wished to speak with someone who wouldn't criticise his every move, Loki cut to the chase. "Not that I don't appreciate your presence but what brings you away from the healing chambers?"

Eir lost her joking tone and became more serious. "If I may speak with you in private…"

"Of course." He dismissed the guards and waited until they left the room. He then went to sit down somewhere before realising that, other than the throne itself, there was nowhere to sit level with her, so he set himself down on the steps as she did the same.

"Your mother wished I bid you her greetings," she started.

"How fares my Father?" he asked.

Eir sighed. "He is weak. Weary. Though you know this already. It is true that it may be his final sleep."

Loki gave a small nod and stared off at the floor the other end of the room.

"We should not lose hope." Eir tried to assure him. "He may yet wake. In fact, he will most likely be perfectly fine. It has been such before and he has not passed away yet. Though we believe that we may need to increase the potency of the healing field soon."

"It has gotten that serious?"

"It is not as good as it could be, but we must remain optimistic. To do otherwise benefits no one."

"I see." Loki looked down. "And did the manner of his entering the Odinsleep, do you think, cause such complications this time?"

She looked at him strangely. "He put it off for a long time. That undeniably made it worse now it has come…" She trailed off, not sounding as though the statement was finished, prompting Loki to say what was obviously weighing on his mind.

"But would the manner in which it happened make it worse?" He stared intently at his hands, which he picked at aggressively. He took in another breath. "If he were, say, distressed enough to force himself into the Odinsleep, would that make the sleep itself worse?"

She looked at him worriedly. "Something makes me think that these are not simple queries brought on by idle curiosity."

Loki kept his gaze focused solely on his hands. "When he fell asleep, he was not…" he stopped and tried again. "I was there."

Eir nodded and bade him continue.

"We were not... on the best of terms as such… that is..." Loki bit his lip.

Eir seemed to understand. She reached out and tightly held his hand. "It is not your fault."

Loki pulled his hand away and seemed to nod but Eir continued. "It is not. You cannot tell yourself that Loki."

Loki looked to the side away from her, then shook his head, straightened up and lifted his head, attempting to cloak himself in regal distance.

"You would not have asked for privacy were you to just pass on my mother's greetings. What is it of which you came here to speak to me about."

Eir sighed. "You are right. That is not the reason this needs to be private." She didn't continue immediately. Loki inclined his head to prompt her to explain. Eir pursed her lips and then elaborated hesitantly.

"I and quite a few others have been worried about your brother."

Loki looked over at her. "You're not going to ask me to bring him back too, are you?"

"No," she said slowly. "This isn't quite that recent."

"Oh."

"More specifically about your brother becoming the king of Asgard."

"What... not thinking him ready?"

"That, or simply not fit to be a ruler. He's reckless, seeks war. He doesn't understand what it means to be the king of a realm – the realm eternal! He's a warrior, not a king. I know you share these concerns. I find it very likely that you have already acted upon them, not that I accuse you."

"I admit to nothing," he said firmly. "Though I… may agree with some elements of that argument."

"We decided that it would have been best to remove Thor from the line of succession…"

Loki suddenly became very alert, remembering what he had heard earlier between the servants. "Murder?"

"No, of course not. Simply to convince your father." Eir seemed distressed at the very idea. But she was implying that she was not the only one involved.

"You expected to simply talk to my Father and tell him that Thor is not to become king? That was your plan? You thought that would work?"

"We were going to let the coronation play out but, while your Father would have been in the Odinsleep, Thor would have shown himself to be an abysmal ruler. We would have also forced things out of his favour in a manner of speaking."

"That does not seem like a very solid plan."

Eir looked off, eyes squinting, thinking. "It did, admittedly, sound much more plausible when we discussed it."

Loki looked at her carefully, trying to ask her what was on his mind. "Are you sure that was everyone's plan?"

"Of course."

Loki continued to stare at her hard. He had his own suspicions, especially after what he heard earlier. He tried to get more information. "Who else is involved in this?"

"Oh, well, myself, obviously," she said. "Lynarfir … your uncle Freyr, Lord Tyr." She paused a bit to think. "Others who they themselves have been able to convince… I believe Heimdall is involved"

That got his attention. "Heimdall? Really?"

"He at least knows of it, yes. Freyr told us that he is in agreement with us, though he cannot openly interfere."

That was strange. Heimdall hated him. He was sure of it. Surely he would never be involved in a plan that would place him over his brother. It made no sense. In fact, all of the people Eir listed agreeing on such a flimsy plan also didn't make any sense. It seemed almost suspicious. "And all of you thought that your plan would work?"

"Well yes. It was what we discussed. Thankfully, those plans no longer matter. With Thor banished, you are now regent."

It was then that Loki realised what Eir was implying, and what her plan had been. "You planned to seat me in my brother's place?"

"You are the next in line," she said. "And would make a much better king. Of course, we didn't actually plan on you taking up the throne until you came of age. I'll admit it was a surprise to learn that you sit as regent now."

Loki didn't know what to think about that. "You wanted to make me king?"

"Of course."

"Me?"

"You are currently king regent. Why does the idea that we might think you a good king surprise you?"

Loki felt confused. Surely she knew what he was. She had taken care of him since he was an infant - had cared for his mother before he was born. He tried to steer the conversation so he could find out.

"We are on the brink of war…" he said.

"I am aware."

"With the frost giants."

"Yes..."

Loki was getting frustrated.

"Is your worry that you know nothing of war?" she asked.

"That is a concern, yes," he replied.

"You are young. This decision is further reaching than this war. Experience can be learned."

"And yet blood cannot."

He braced, instantly regretting saying that.

Eir let out a slow breath before facing him. She knew exactly what he was talking about. She knew. "Loki…" she looked him straight in the eyes. "What happened?"

"I would ask if you knew," he said, almost laughing. "I thought you might."

"I know not if we're speaking of the same thing."

"Where I came from. You knew."

She resigned. "I did."

"If you know what I am, how can you think to make me king of Asgard?"

"You are Odin's son, the next in line. What you were born as changes nothing about you."

"But a frost giant cannot rule the realm of the Aesir!" he blurted out.

"You are Asgardian, as I am, as your father is, as your brother is," she said calmly. "Your mother is Vanir. Does that mean that she cannot be the queen of Asgard?"

Loki let out a shaky breath finally and put his head in his hands. It was not the same. He didn't have the energy to try to explain why. "Who else knows?" he finally asked.

"Myself, your parents, Heimdall of course, I believe that Tyr suspects. No one else that I know of."

That was not as bad as it could have been. Of course Heimdall knew. It must be why he hated him so much. Those were only the ones Eir knew of though. It could be common knowledge among all of the higher court for all she knew. That thought was discomforting.

He took a breath and changed the subject back to what was really important.

"So, you are sure that no one wishes to harm Thor?"

"Of course," she said easily. "That was never the plan. Don't worry."

"And the same of my Father?" he clarified.

"Your Father?"

"You'll admit that this is a scheme, at least on the surface, against the crown. The first move would usually be to take care of the current king."

"You've always been much too paranoid," she laughed. "That's not what any of this is about. All will be well. None of this matters any longer anyway. With your brother banished, you are next in the line of succession already. I just thought that you should be told."

"I thank you," he said stiffly.

"If I may, I will take my leave now. I have a few errands to run."

"You may leave."

"You can talk to me at any point if you feel you need to," she said. "That you are king does not confine you to this room."

"Thank you Eir," he dismissed.

As Eir's form retreated, Loki stood up and walked back over to the throne. The guards re-entered and retook their positions by the side of the throne. He let his neutral mask fall into an expression of deep confusion and worry. Once Eir had left the room entirely, he looked around himself, came to a conclusion and sent an illusion of himself to his Father's chambers.

"Loki?" His mother appeared startled by his sudden entrance.

"Mother."

She looked him up and down, before pulling away from Odin's sleeping form and standing up. "What prompts you to send an illusion of yourself here?"

Loki glanced around subtly, making sure that she was alone in the room. He then walked over to Odin's bed across from his mother and seemed to inspect the mechanism for the healing field. "I think we should move Odin somewhere else." He looked back up at her. "He shouldn't remain in this chamber."

"Why do you say that?" she asked, tilting her head.

"'Tis probably just paranoia, though I worry for his safety." Loki looked around the room again. "He is vulnerable and everyone in the castle knows exactly where to find him."

"What brings this on Loki?" She looked him over, seeming concerned.

"Some things that I may have heard around the castle," he said dismissively. "As I said, it is likely simple paranoia, though I believe we should act upon it nevertheless. I do not think it necessary to hide him entirely; only somewhere that isn't here."

She gave him a small smile. "Alright, whatever you think best." She walked over to the other side of the bed to join him and looked over the mechanism. "If we are to move him to another room, it must be one with a bed that can produce the field. In his current state, he cannot be outside of one."

"My chambers?" Loki suggested.

"Your chambers?"

"My bed has the mechanism," he said, waving his hand.

She stared at him, her head tilted. "How long has that been the case?"

"Since Eir showed me how they worked."

"And why did you think it necessary to create one encompassing your own bed?"

He shrugged. "I didn't see any reason not to."

She chuckled lightly and shook her head. "Of course you would." She walked over to the other side of the bed again and picked up an overturned book. "How do you propose we get him there then?"

He thought for a moment. "We could use the beds in the healing chambers, the ones kept in the back rooms for moving patients who cannot move unassisted. They can all produce a rudimentary healing field."

She nodded. "Yes, that sounds reasonable." She began walking towards the entrance of the chamber. "I shall get the guards to bring a bed and move him to your chambers."

He immediately shook his head. "No. I don't think we should inform the guards."

She stopped, turned around and looked hard at him for a few moments. Then she shook her head and let out a breath. "Alright." She looked back at him. "What, then, do you propose."

He bit his lip. "I think I'll come up here in person. I'll be right back."

His mother sat back down next to his father and nodded as he dispelled the illusion.

He left the throne. To skip the hour-long walk from the throne room to the royal chambers, he stepped back onto the branches of Yggdrasil, staying carefully on Asgard. Colours and shapes flashing by him in a way that would be indecipherable to anyone else but he could use almost as a map. Being able to move through the realm tree was a skill he had never heard of anywhere else. Once he had discovered it as a child, he had scoured the library for any mention of it but had found nothing. Of course, there were mentions of Dark Energy, the tesseract, the Bifrost, both the one on Asgard and the one that had been on Vanaheim before it was destroyed as a part of the treaty at the end of the war. Nothing like what he could do. He had never told anyone of this. Until recently, he'd thought no one knew but so many accusations had been thrown at him over the past few days, both at him and behind his back that he wasn't sure anymore.

Everyone mistrusted him. They always had. He had worried that knowledge of an unexplained ability to be anywhere at any time would only cause him to be blamed for more things. It wasn't like he could bring anyone else with him anyway. He had tried many times in the past but had never been successful. If he could not even help anyone else with it then there was hardly any point in divulging it. He hiding all his abilities only caused people to distrust him more. It hardly mattered now. He was the king. Everyone had to follow his orders without question. It shouldn't matter what they thought of him.

His surroundings warped into the corridor by his parents' chambers where he could tell no guards were stationed. He stepped out and walked towards the entrance.

The guards inclined their heads towards him as he passed them and opened the towering doors for him. He walked through them and waited for them to close the doors behind him. When they didn't, he turned back and glanced outside of the room again.

"If you wouldn't mind closing the doors…"

The guards seemed to come out of their stupor, suddenly alert. "Of course your majesty, we apologise."

Loki walked back into the room. The Einherjar did not usually answer him when he spoke to them, they usually held a much more stoic disposition. The two standing outside the door did not seem young, as to be new and not yet understand the etiquette., though they could still be inexperienced.

His mother looked up at him and smiled at him, patting the seat she had obviously brought beside her for him in invitation. He took it, leaned his father's spear against the bed and removed his helmet.

"So," she began again. "How do you propose we move Odin from these rooms without the knowledge of the guards?"

He smiled and pulled out a map, spreading it out over the floor.

"I will not be able to simply cloak myself to go through the more common areas near the healing chambers so I will need a disguise."

Frigga rolled her eyes, though she had a smile on her face.

Loki squinted and looked around the chamber. "So I have a plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. I've realised that writing is much harder than I thought it was. Wow. Also, this chapter I've written exclusively in Loki's POV which is really weird. I don't know what I'm doing. I wasn't planning on making this all about Loki but so far the very small changes have only affected him. I'm not really sure how to write him though. His character seems to change in every film and I just never have any idea what he's thinking. I think that's supposed to be the point. For this, I'm only focusing on what happened in the first film - I actually thought I understood his motivations in that film. Then he tried to take over Earth for some reason. Past that I just had no clue what was going on.
> 
> Even in the first film though, you can read his actions in so many different ways. It's not even definite that he was the one to interrupt the coronation, though yeah it was probably him. You can interpret it as him being the worst person ever who planned from right at the beginning to blow up Jotunheim, kill his brother and father and usurp the throne but I really don't think that was the case, which is what makes him interesting to me. I really liked the plot twist at the end where the whole point was that it was never about the throne of Asgard, just Odin's approval. I don't know why he seemed to just really want to rule the world or something in the films that came afterwards. I'm going to only really use the canon from this film cuz thinking about all the later ones is just hard.
> 
> This author's note is really long. I should stop now.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Eir was on her way to leave the healing rooms when two of the guard entered. The room immediately quietened. It was no surprise to see the guard in the healing chambers, but usually they only visited when they were injured, though a few had friends and simply visited to converse with them during the tedium of their day. This was different. They did not look at them as they would if they were there to talk with them as friends and no one recognised them.

"The King has called all of you to the throne room," said one of the guards.

Everyone looked around at each other in confusion.

"Why would the Allfather call for us?" asked one of the girls who looked up from a round table sat around a book.

"Not the Allfather," replied another. "Thor will have been crowned by now."

"I thought that Thor's coronation was postponed."

"Wait, why?"

Eir shook her head and turned to the guards. "Did Loki inform you why?" she asked, puzzled.

"He did not, my Lady"

One of the girls sitting at the table spoke up again. "Wait, Loki? He's the king? How?"

Eir ignored her.

All the people in the healing rooms started filing out, save for one of the older women who was tending to an unconscious man in the partially removed uniform of the Einherjar. She looked up to Eir with a frustrated and slightly worried expression.

"I'm sure you will not be missed," said Eir. "Do not worry, Sara. You may remain here." The woman nodded and looked relieved at Eir's reassurances. Eir then began walking out and led the way while the group was flanked by the two guards.

* * *

Once everyone had left, Loki peered out from behind a pillar. Brown hair now fell around his face in soft curls, his eyes were a dark brown and he wore one of his mother's most simple dresses. As long as no one inspected the material too closely, they would assume him to be an insignificant serving girl, which made doing anything unnoticed much easier. He would look right in place in the healing chambers.

He walked as purposefully towards the healing rooms as would be appropriate for a serving girl, though he could not see anyone who would take notice of him and peered around the corner. Sara looked up at him.

"Are you alright young lady?"

He stepped into the room quickly. "Oh, yes, sorry," he said, quickly putting aside his own mannerisms and falling into his disguise.

He hadn't expected anyone to stay in the chambers, though he had shapeshifted himself just in case. He was now really glad that he did. There had been no one in need of treatment when he checked before giving the command for everyone to go to the throne room, but someone had obviously been brought in since then. He stayed close to the door, his hands behind his back and leaning against them, both deeply uncomfortable and faking his outward emotions for his character.

After a few awkward seconds, he gestured over to the man lying unconscious on the bed next to her. "Is he alright?"

She looked down to her patient. "Currently, no, as is obvious." She smiled wryly and, at Loki's worried expression, she added, "Don't worry. His life is not in any danger. Not anymore at least."

"That's, well good? Not that he is not alright, of course, that he'll be alright, I'm sorry, never mind," he said, emulating the nervousness of many of the newer servants he often spoke to. He couldn't think of how to get to the beds and remove one without Sara noticing. He wouldn't be able to get her to leave the room with a patient to look after. He would have to give some reason for needing to take the bed.

"So, what happened then? Or, what ails him?"

"I must tell you that it is most unusual," she said, shaking her head. "Firlur found him lying on the floor at his post near the royal quarters, I believe, and brought him here. Such a good lad, that one, you know. It was very fortunate. If he hadn't found him I can tell you that this would have been much worse. Why, this has happened many a time, let me tell you. Once, one of the guards fell ill down behind the vaults and wasn't found for three months afterwards. Must have been such a shock for the poor guard who found him."

Loki very much regretted prompting Sara to speak.

"Anyway, back to this poor man. I seem to have gotten sidetracked. I do that a lot you know. I've been told it many times. My mother did quite the same thing actually."

He found himself fighting a sudden, overwhelming urge to stuff her in a dimensional pocket and be done with it.

"What did you want to know again?" she continued. "Oh yes. Of course, it was most strange. We believed it some form of sickness, but, upon closer inspection, we realised that he was poisoned. Of all things!"

"Poisoned?" Suddenly, Loki was very interested.

"I know. It was quite a shock, let me tell you. Why, we haven't had to deal with an actual poisoning since that banquet back when..."

"What was the poison used?" he cut her off.

"Eisjenvenom. Not a very deadly poison really. It only usually kills people who are really old or really young. Unless you have a hel of a lot of it. It keeps you unconscious for a long time though. Some of the other realms use it in their medicine for that reason actually. It's quite fascinating."

"So what happened then?" He asked, keeping her on track. "How was he poisoned while at his post? And why? Nothing has happened has it?" Given the previous plots that he had found out about, a guard poisoned while guarding the royal quarters was without a doubt something to be very concerned about. He needed to get more information from Sara.

"At first, we worried about that as well. It turns out actually that it was a pouch he was holding himself. He spilled it on himself I think, and absorbed it through his skin. We found a pouch half full of it clipped to his belt and what was likely the other half of it all over his hands."

"He carried it himself?"

"Yes. I believe so." At Loki's shocked expression she added, "I know, worrying, isn't it?"

"I must agree," he agreed. "Have you any idea as to why?"

She turned back to her patient. "As of yet, I have no clue. Of course, we will ask him when he wakes, but I have only just administered the antidote, and that much later than would be ideal. He may not even be awake by tomorrow. I know not what else to do." Sara looked back up at Loki. "So then child, what was it that you came in here for?"

"Oh, oh yes, sorry…" Loki fumbled around and clenched the material of his dress in his hands, seeming nervous. "I actually came here because I needed one of the transport beds…"

Sara looked confused at that. "Why do you need one of those?"

"I'm not really sure. Well, um, Lynarfir asked to come down here to get one for him. He didn't tell me why. Something to do with an experiment I think. I really don't know."

She laughed slightly. "Typical really of Lynarfir. He never tells anyone what he's doing. We all just assume he spends his life sitting in that library."

Loki let out an awkward half-laugh, to try and agree with Sara, then coughed and stared at the floor.

"Anyway," Sara started again. "What's your name, young Lady?"

"Aran," replied Loki easily.

"Right then Aran, do you know where to find them?"

"Yes, I believe so. That back room over there, right?" he said, walking over to where he knew them to be.

"Right. Usually, you would need to ask Eir to use any of these things in the healing wing but, since she is not here, I shall let you use one."

"I thank you," came his muffled reply from in the other room.

Sara stood up but then thought the better of it and sat back down. "Do you need any help? Those beds are not easy to move around alone?"

Loki came back into the first room, dragging one of the beds with him. "No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure, because I'm sure I could get Firlur to come and help you?"

"No," he said again, trying to sound calm rather than insisting too strongly which would be suspicious. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

Sara looked concerned. "If you're sure…"

"Yes, I am. Thank you for the help," he said as he dragged the bed out of the room as fast as he could, not looking back at her, dropping the nervous smile he wore that was making his face ache.

It took longer than Loki expected to get back to the royal chambers. He passed a few people on the way but they didn't take any notice of him, assuming that he was one of the girls from the healing rooms running some errand or other.

Once he got around the corner, Frigga appeared in the doorway and told the two guards to go and find Loki in the throne room and Eir in the healing chambers. Once they had gone, Loki stepped out and pulled the bed into the room. The two of them then carefully moved Odin's sleeping form and left the rooms. Frigga cloaked them so they wouldn't be noticed. They then carefully avoided all of the hallways that were anything more than abandoned, which was easier higher up in the palace where the royal chambers were than down by the more common areas.

They were almost to Loki's room when a servant darted out from around the corner with his head down, looking lost in his own thoughts and came straight for them. Frigga noticed and tried to get them out of the way in time but it wasn't fast enough and he ran straight into them.

"Sorry," the servant said, picking himself up and keeping his head focused on the floor, not noticing that there wasn't anyone there.

He began to leave again but then stopped suddenly and turned around. He couldn't see anyone.

He looked around himself again, absolutely perplexed. He then walked back over to them with his hands in front of him. As soon as he touched them, they both appeared.

He jumped backwards immediately.

"What? What is this?" he then noticed Frigga. "My queen!" he squeaked. He looked over at Odin and then back at Frigga. "What are you…?"

He backed away from her and turned to run away. Before he could, there was a loud clang and he crumpled to the floor unconscious.

Loki stood over him, the heavy, metal hilt of a dagger in his raised hand.

"Loki!"

"What?"

He picked up the servant's unconscious form and put him behind one of the doors so he was out of the sight of anyone else who might pass through.

"Why did you do that?" asked his mother.

"Let's go," he said, brushing past her.

They both continued down the hallway.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the throne room, an illusion that Loki left sat on the throne.

Flanked by the guards, the healers all arrived.

"My king," said Eir, at the head of the group. She put her forearm across her chest and bowed. The others followed suit. Though, three at the back looked around and followed everyone else awkwardly, starting and finishing too late and looking around instead of at the ground. They had likely never been to the throne room or had to address the king before. Also, that it was Loki who they were bowing to was strange.

Eir continued. "May I ask why you called us here."

Loki faked an air of confusion, though, as it always did when he spoke, it came across as sarcastic. "I know not why."

Some of them glanced at each other. Eir tilted her head.

He clarified. "I did not ask it."

Then, everyone in the room was confused. The guards tried to remain expressionless, though it didn't quite work.

One of the others chimed in. "Loki…"

Everyone stared at her.

"I mean, my prince"

Everyone continued to stare at her.

"No, no, wait… I mean my king"

Loki raised his chin slightly, acknowledging her.

"Sorry. Anyway… How could you have not had us sent here, but we be brought here by your summons?"

Loki put his hand up by his mouth, appearing contemplative. "I suppose I must have been misunderstood. I asked that Eir be sent here. It makes sense that my orders would have been misheard."

What he said didn't directly blame the two guards but his accusation was obvious. They stared up at him indignantly. One of them opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he was nudged by his friend. He looked up at him angrily as his friend tried to remain completely composed and expressionless. The other followed suit, though he didn't bother hiding his scowl.

Loki tried to ignore them and continued. "You are all free to go back to the healing rooms."

They all looked around at each other, not sure if that was their cue to leave, before a few started to turn and others followed them, leaving Eir standing alone in front of the throne.

The guards moved to retake their stations either side of Loki, but he held his hand out to stop them.

"You are also dismissed. I wish for privacy."

Once they had left, Eir walked closer to the throne and Loki stood up.

"So, what did you wish to speak to me about?"

Loki bit his lip.

"'Tis about Jotunheim. You have told me that you and many others wish to avoid war."

"Of course."

"Since we are now on the brink of war with Jotunheim, I wondered how you thought that I should proceed."

"I doubt that I am the best person for that. Might it not have been better to seek advice from General Tyr?"

"Maybe," Loki retook his seat on Hlidskjalf and let out a breath. "But he does not like me."

"What makes you say that?"

"It matters not. You may leave if you wish."

"Is this about something else, Loki?"

"Of course not."

The silence was broken by a guard who came into the room and bowed.

"I already know about my Father's state," he dismissed, not paying attention to him.

"No, that's not the message sire."

"What have you to say then?"

"My leige, the Warriors Three and the Lady Sif have gone by the bifrost to Midgard."

What?

They had gone to Midgard. Abandoned him in favour of his brother, after he, not just as their friend but as their king, had expressly forbidden it.

What was he thinking? Of course they had.

Instinctively he tried to look for them using Hlidskjalf's sight, only to be reminded that his form was only an illusion here and he couldn't operate it when he wasn't actually there.

He didn't know why their betrayal hurt so much. He knew they didn't like him, only ever seeing him as the annoying tag-along of the friendship group at the best of times. He knew he couldn't rely on them; he wouldn't have used their moral support while he was king anyway. He didn't need anyone else. No one could be trusted so he would do everything alone. It didn't matter to him.

He nodded his head at the guard who then left the room. There was silence between him and Eir for a few moments.

Thinking about it, he was almost glad that they'd gone to join Thor. He would be safer with his four warrior lackeys to protect him if there truly were people trying to kill him. Perhaps he would have ordered them to do exactly that had they waited a few hours longer.

Sif especially would be outraged if she found out that their act to spite him was exactly what he wanted them to do all along. That thought almost lifted his mood.

He turned back to Eir.

She had been staring at him throughout his train of thought intensely, almost through him as though she were trying to figure something out.

"Loki," she finally asked. "Where are you right now?"

"Sitting right in front of you. What kind of question was that supposed to be?"

He didn't know what gave him away.

She walked forwards and went to take his hand. He looked to the side and breathed out in resignation as her hand passed straight through his and his whole form flickered.

"Where are you really Loki?"

"Walking to my chambers. I will return soon."

"And why do you project an illusion of yourself here?" She asked.

"My reasons are my own."

"Why did you need everyone out of the healing rooms? Loki, what are you up to?"

Loki glared at her. "Nothing that you would disagree with. Nothing traitorous. Is that what you wish to hear?"

Loki stood up from the throne. Closed off though he moved towards her.

"Loki, I do not accuse you."

"Do you not?"

"You are so quick to assume that people think the worst of you. You must know that it is not always so."

"My King!" came the voice of a guard from the back of the room, interrupting them. He moved as quickly as he could towards the throne until he stood in front of it.

"What is it?" He snapped.

"Your mother wishes you join her. Your father's state has worsened."

"I am aware. Thank you for informing me."

The guard looked confused.

"My mother sent an illusion of herself here to inform me, but the situation has passed, and all is fine."

The guard's jaw dropped, and Loki had to fight the urge to smirk.

"You may leave."

The guard nodded his head respectfully but left the throne room barely concealing frustration. Eir turned to Loki.

"What was that about your father's state having worsened?"

"He's alright now," he dismissed.

"Why was I not informed?"

"You would have been. You weren't in the healing rooms."

"What!"

"You need not be worried. My father is in no danger."

"Was he ever in any?"

Loki held her gaze for a few seconds before he dropped his eyes to the floor.

"No. He wasn't"

"And it was you who sent the guard on the fool's errand?"

"I don't have to answer these questions."

Eir ran a hand through her hair.

"Loki, you must know that you cannot play tricks on everyone as you are. You should not hide your every move from those that are only trying to help you. It only causes more trouble further down the line, for yourself and everyone else. You know this."

Loki's eyes narrowed further. He straightened up and recomposed himself, trying to regain the regal disposition he found comfort and distance in. "You were right. I need not your advice on dealing with Jotunheim. You may leave."

"Loki..."

"I am your king."

"My king… If I may…"

"You may leave."

Eir let out a breath. "If you wish it, my King."

Loki did not respond to her, just stared hard at one of the pillars. Eir turned back to him and gave him a worried look as she left.

* * *

"Are you alright Loki?"

Loki refocused most of his attention through his own eyes to look up at his mother who had spoken to him. He realised that he was scowling intensely and tried to relax his expression.

"Of course."

They moved the bed around the last corner and moved into the first room of Loki's chambers, then into his bedroom, finding it difficult to manoeuvre the large bed through it, around the many items of furniture placed in odd places and random trinkets sprinkling the floor. Loki claimed it was all ordered and perfectly intentional. The two of them carefully moved Odin over from the flimsy transport bed to Loki's own bed.

There was a pause for a while as Loki adjusted the intensity of the healing field and his mother stared at him. Once he had finished, she waited a few more seconds before asking him gently, "My son, why did you think this necessary?"

He looked up at her. "I told you before. He is vulnerable and everyone knew where to find him."

"He has been so many times before and nothing has ever happened."

"I know. I heard some talk among the servants and it worried me."

"What kind of talk?" She asked.

"Nothing that important," he replied.

Frigga realised that he wasn't going to elaborate and sighed. She looked back down at Odin and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I hope he wakes soon, relieve the pressure on you my son. I'm sorry that this burden fell on your shoulders."

"You don't think me capable?"

"No, Not at all. You know that's not how I meant that."

Loki looked down.

"To rule a realm is a great burden," she continued. "The fate of every single one of your subjects is on you. Not that I doubt you are capable, but I have never been able to rule. Millennia ago, my best attempts led my realm to ruin.

His mother was talking about when she had been regent during the Aesir Vanir war. The Vanir had lost, horrifically.

"That wasn't your fault. You were at war."

"As this realm is now," she said. "This burden should not have fallen to you."

"You need not worry. I can do this. Did you not tell me to make my father proud?"

She Looked worried. "I did not mean to pressure you. After telling you about where you came from, that may not have been tactful."

Loki stiffened at the mention of his heritage. Frigga seemed to pick up on it.

"Loki, know that you do not need to prove yourself a part of this family."

Loki stared at her, his eyes wide, before dropping his eyes to his hands and almost grimacing. Without looking up at her, he nodded.

"I know."

She reached over and took his hand in her own, squeezing it reassuringly.

"We accept you. You need not do anything to prove that to us"

Loki's blank expression didn't change, and he didn't look up at her, but Frigga felt him squeeze her hand back and smiled weakly at him.

He held her hand for a while longer before he pulled away and stood up.

"I must return to the throne room."

He turned away and walked through a door, shutting it behind him. It was a few minutes before he re-emerged, looking like himself again. His hair was once again black and slicked behind his ears and he wore his own golden armour, though he still held his horned helmet with underarm. He made eye contact with his mother, then dropped his gaze to the floor.

"I shall take my leave now." He hesitated, then walked across the room over to the door.

"Loki."

He turned back to face her.

"We love you. Remember that."

Loki turned around and left the room quickly, without responding to her.

Once he was back in the throne room, he turned Hlidskjalf's sight to Jotunheim where he watched Laufey and some of his guards prepare to come to Asgard, resting his forehead on his fingers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah...
> 
> About Frigga, for this, I kind of made her the same person as Freyja because... reasons? That's going to mean that she's actually Vanir, not Aesir, she's Freyr's twin sister and all of that stuff. I also decided to make Freyr the king of Vanaheim just because.
> 
> I was always confused as to why Frigga wasn't made regent during the Odinsleep. Also, even though I really liked her, looking back over what she did in the film, she just seemed so passive. I just kind of had an idea and ran with it that she doesn't want to be in a position of power for more reasons than just Asgardian gender roles so that's going to be important later in the story.
> 
> Also, it's been quite fun writing Loki. I don't think I did it that well - characters are hard, no one sounds right - but nevermind. I thought that he seemed overly paranoid and had a tendency to think up overly elaborate plans for reasons everyone else might not disagree with but then put them into action without telling anyone so the plan itself is a terrible idea and everyone else works against him because they don't trust him and the whole thing just leads to disaster. See the whole plot of Thor (... well, without Thor).
> 
> Anyway so I actually wrote him telling everyone sort of what's going on so that's good, but both Frigga and Eir (and all the random confused people who get roped up in this) are still left out of the loop about so much which causes him to feel attacked by them because they're annoyed. I think he has a really pessimistic view of the way everyone else thinks about him. I mean, look at the whole thing with Odin. He tried so hard to gain his favour because he was convinced that Odin only ever saw him as a political tool and was so focused on trying to set that right that he caused his own downfall, while Odin did actually love him all along. (Or at least that's how I like to interpret it. TDW never happened, no. I disagree. No!)
> 
> Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. Thanks for reading everyone!


	3. Chapter 3

Three men wearing the golden armour of the Einherjar came from the Bifrost bridge into Heimdall's observatory.

"My Lord Heimdall," one of them began, bowing his head. "We have orders from our king to use the Bifrost. Will you grant us access?"

Heimdall did not look at any of them, he continued to stare off at something that none of them could see when he answered them. "I am already aware. You may pass."

The man who had bowed looked up sharply. "You were?"

"I see everything," was the flat response.

"Then we thank you."

Heimdall pushed the sword into the mechanism and activated the Bifrost. They saw one last glimpse of the throne room before they were warped away by the vacuum of light. When it dissipated, they were on Midgard, surrounded by desert.

"The settlement is that way," said one of them, pointing to the left where the silhouette of a town peeked from above the horizon in the distance.

"And Thor in it."

The first guard held a hand on his sword's sheath.

"We do not wish to alarm the town's inhabitants. We must retain the element of surprise."

"Surely it won't be necessary? They are mortals. No one here poses any threat to us. Even Thor could not fight us in the state he is in."

"We should not cause unnecessary disruption."

"Then where do you propose we go?"

"We do not take the main paths. It is early in the morning here anyway. Not many of them will be here."

"Then let us go."

* * *

From Hlidskjalf, Loki had his gaze locked on the healing chambers, on the unassuming looking girl who had been speaking such treason earlier that day. She didn't seem to do anything out of the ordinary at all, though he had hardly been looking for a long enough time. He could hardly expect her to do anything incriminating in the short time as he watched her, but it was frustrating none the less.

He had been using Hlidskjalf's sight for barely five minutes and his eyes already felt as though they would burn to embers. His head throbbed so intensely that the entire world around him seemed to shake.

Of all the things he had looked forward to about being regent, sitting on his father's throne and being able to see whatever he pleased across all of the nine realms was the most exciting. He was rather disappointed now.

His father must be used to it, he supposed. He never seemed to suffer any pain. Perhaps it went away with practice. He himself had improved slightly, at first not being able to look around for more than half a minute. He didn't know whether that spoke of his ability to use it or his pain tolerance.

Having rested his eyes a moment, he cast his gaze out again, this time to his own chambers where his parents were.

Could he truly call them his parents?

He banished that thought as fast as it came.

He looked away from his rooms and across the citadel over to his Father's chambers. Though it was now abandoned, two guards still stood by the entrance and his mother's illusion maintained the facade that the king still lay there. He knew that his mother didn't understand why he was being so cautious. Even he had to admit, but only to himself, that he was being overly paranoid about all this. Going to such extra lengths to conceal their actions from the guards was perhaps overkill, but he was grateful to his mother that she went along with it anyway. He wasn't sure who else in the castle he could trust now.

Of course, nothing substantial had pointed to the king being in danger, but he was paranoid. He knew that, essentially, a coup was planned to take place. Eir certainly didn't see it that way, but she had admitted that she wasn't the only one involved. He trusted her not to have malicious intentions but who knew what was going on that she didn't know about. The servant girl's conversation was proof of that.

The first thing one generally did when planning a coup was to dispose of the king. Loki couldn't leave him vulnerable where anyone knew where he was.

The guards themselves had not noticed that anything was amiss. Which, of course, they wouldn't. They had no reason to. He was still in the throne room.

He was about to look away again but something caught his eye. Clipped to one of their belts, an innocuous-looking pouch was partially hidden under one of his layers of leathers.

Was it the same as that which had contained Eisjenvenom, as the guard in the infirmary had been poisoned with?

Then, one of the guards broke his stoic position and leaned over to his companion, whispering something. The other replied something in turn and glanced over his shoulder into the royal chambers.

The conversation continued. Loki looked much closer, trying to find any inkling of what they were saying to each other. He could not yet hear what he saw through Hlidskjalf, though he knew his father could.

Their mouths seemed to blur and the world spun around him. He closed his eyes and tried to look again but was met with the same result. His eyes burned and his head throbbed.

He choked back a grunt of frustration. He had to know what was going on. If the guards were involved in this too then the situation would be much worse than he had thought. It would prove him right, and that was a bad sign. If only he could just eavesdrop on their talk, like this stupid device was supposed to allow him to do, then he would know for sure.

He changed his approach. Rather than trying to lip-read, he focused on hearing instead. He focused on being there, standing beside them corporeally, imagined turning his ear and leaning. He was ecstatic as he sensed a muffled murmur that he knew didn't come from the throne room. Then the pain hit, like a knife stabbing through his skull. He immediately pulled himself out and sat on the throne panting and clutching his head.

Infernal device! This was pointless. He would have to do this his own way.

He stood up from the throne, still clutching his head, and ran out of the throne room, completely forgetting to act dignified and regal. Once he was around the corner at the point with the strongest connection, he slipped through Yggdrasil over to the other side of the citadel, cloaking himself last minute.

"…not much point now," said one of them.

"We must wait then," said the other.

Loki waited for the two to speak again but, before they could, one of them froze and looked straight at him. Loki tensed. He instantly checked his cloaking but it was still in place.

The guard then nudged his friend. "Do you feel that?". Then he looked right at Loki again and his face went white.

Without even a thought in his panic, Loki pulled himself straight back to the throne room. He had been seen, he was sure of it, but he didn't know how. He was cloaked! The strain of his unprepared leap through the paths left him aching and his seidr strained.

This whole situation was infuriating. He could find nothing incriminating of them and yet he knew that something was wrong. Could they be traitors too? Could this be a plot he'd uncovered? He had to find this out. He couldn't just wait for them to reveal themselves, he had to make it happen.

If they wished to kill his father, they would not be able to do so while they believed his mother to be in the room; not using the poison he suspected would be their weapon. She would see them, and they would not be able to kill her without being much more violent. If they wanted to pin the blame on natural causes – which Eisjenvenom was perfect for…

All the pieces seemed to fit together in a horrible puzzle. He knew that this possibility was unlikely, but he had to test it just in case. It was precaution, not paranoia.

He did not need to think about it long. Grimacing as he pulled on his strained seidr, he projected himself into his mother's chambers to enact the first stage of his test.

His mother seemed surprised by his sudden appearance. "Loki," she said. "What brings you here this time?"

Loki decided to jump straight to the point. "You are sustaining an illusion of yourself in Father's chamber," he stated.

"Yes?" she said, confused.

"I need you to make the guards believe that you are leaving the room for a fairly long period of time."

"Why?" She pressed.

He was frustrated. He didn't know how to explain what he was doing to her, and now that he was faced with it, he doubted that Frigga would see the urgency in the situation so he didn't bother. "I need to test something," he said simply.

Frigga stared at him for a while, then decided to just accept his explanation, likely knowing that he wouldn't offer a better one. "Alright. What should I tell them?"

"Tell them that I sent for you. That is not even a lie." It would normally take at least a half-hour to get to the throne room from the royal chambers. The guards would have no better opportunity if they were to kill the king.

"That sounds reasonable." She said after some time. "Did you need anything else?"

"I do not." He replied and was gone.

* * *

Back on the throne, Loki looked over to his father's chambers again, where his mother's illusion left the chamber and spoke to the guards before leaving. Through the spinning, Loki watched them as closely as he could.

He was getting more used to Hlidskjalf now, though his magic had been through the wringer and everything felt difficult. He kept his gaze glued to what was going on and fully ignored the pain it caused him. He did not need to focus on them too closely. Just knowing where they went was good enough.

After Frigga's illusion had gone out of sight, the two guards looked at each other and nodded. One of them unclipped his leather pouch from his belt.

This was it. Loki was even surer now, but he still waited and watched them with bated breath.

The guards entered Odin's chamber. One of them walked up to the bed while the other stood at the entrance, looking confused and concerned. He then called out something to the other one who seemed to notice that Odin wasn't in his bed where he was supposed to be.

That was enough. He was right!

Perhaps it would not be enough evidence to convince anyone else of their guilt. It could be circumstantial – merely a coincidence, perhaps. They could have just decided at that moment to check on the king: a show of loyalty and initiative. Loki barely entertained the possibility in his mind. Everything had lined up too cleanly for him.

Of course, it wasn't a good thing that he was right about this. After the initial thrill of his suspicions being proved correct passed, a dawning feeling of dread settled. There truly were people trying to kill the king. The thought was horrifying. The thought of anything happening to his father…

And if there were people out to kill his father – and his brother, what was their plan overall? What were they trying to achieve? Every possibility he could think of was sinister.

Loki stopped watching them, his vision snapping back to the throne room. He didn't know what to do from here. What could he do? He knew so little about what was going on. He decided to start with the obvious.

He got the attention of the guards by the throne by standing up.

"I need you to bring here the guards stationed outside my father's chambers," he commanded. "With force if necessary. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, my lord." They bowed to him and walked away.

Loki sat back on the throne and waited.

* * *

An hour later, the two guards were brought before him. Both of them tried to remain unfazed and unconcerned that they had been asked specifically to come to the throne room after attempting to poison the king. They weren't very successful. One kept his gaze focused entirely on Loki, his eyes wide and face pale. The other appeared far too nonchalant.

"Hand me the pouch clipped to your belts," he ordered.

The first guard's face turned white and the other tilted his head to the side, unconcerned to the extent of appearing defiant, though Loki doubted that was his intention.

"Why of course," said the second guard, unclipping his from own from his belt and passing it to the guard who escorted him there, "Though I must ask why."

The guard walked up to the throne and handed both pouches to Loki. He studied them for a second, then looked back up.

"Arrest them."

The guards standing unnoticed around the room realised that they were being called upon and moved towards the throne to restrain the two guards. The two guards knew that they had been caught, though they still made a weak attempt to seem surprised by the arrest.

"What?" said one of the other guards.

"My king?" one of them pleaded.

"On what grounds?" asked another.

Loki stood up.

"Treason," he replied shortly.

"What evidence is there for this?"

Loki slammed Gungnir on the floor.

"I am the king. I need not explain my orders to you. You must do as I say."

The other guards bowed their heads to him and backed down, but they shot an exasperated look at each other.

"Escort them to the dungeon," Loki commanded.

The guards nodded and took the two guards out of the throne room, who made no attempt to resist them but looked around with fake confused looks on their faces at the other guards who shrugged their shoulders and looked worried. They did not use any force to take them away and there was no malice, only sympathy.

Once they had gone, Loki sat back down and examined the pouches again. He then stood up again and left the throne room himself.

* * *

Down on Midgard, Thor was as happy as he could be given the situation. The mortals had proven themselves to be much better company than he had expected when he was banished. He had worried that he was to be flung into a realm of primitives. He thought it would be a safe yet primitive realm whose inhabitants died in the blink of an eye and whose intelligence showed exactly that. Much better than being banished to a hostile realm such as Nidavellir or, Norns forbid, Jotunheim. But a backwards realm with nothing but the most basic of advancements.

But the realm was vastly different from what it had been when he had visited as a child before his father had forbidden travel here. They had organised themselves into an organisation that stopped even him from getting back his own hammer, which had been a big shock. Who had their eyes on him even now, though they thought he was oblivious. They understood far more than he had ever expected. They had come up with many amazing foods such as coffee and pop tarts. If he ever made it back to Asgard, he would have to bring some back with him.

Of course, there was the beautiful mortal woman by the name of Jane whose incredible intellect had shocked him. When she had asked him about the nine realms, at times, he found himself unable to answer her questions. She had reminded him so much of his brother. He found himself wishing that Loki was here, who would no doubt know the answers to her questions without hand-waving a metaphor he had heard.

The thought of Loki made his heart clench.

His friends had come down to join him and he was unbelievably grateful for their company, but they had brought with them the news that his brother had betrayed him. He had lied when he said that their father was dead and had stolen the throne for himself. They had told him that he had always been jealous and had been the one to betray them to the Jotnar in the first place. He couldn't believe it.

He knew that he had never been the best judge of character, but Loki was his brother. His loyal little brother. He couldn't just accept that he'd been lied to all this time. He had never understood him, but surely he was not a traitor.

But his friends wouldn't lie, and it made sense. He wanted desperately to be able to return to Asgard to talk to Loki. Shake some sense into him.

And his friends wanted him to do exactly that. They had come to try and convince him to come back to Asgard with them despite his banishment and overthrow his brother to regain his rightful place on the throne.

Before his banishment, his anger would have overtaken him and he would have easily rushed straight back to Asgard, consequences be damned, to reclaim what had been taken from him. Now though, he found himself hesitating, and not as overtaken by righteous anger as he would have been before.

He was banished, so the throne wasn't his to reclaim, even if it really was Loki who tricked him into it. He had begun to realise why he had been banished in the first place, what his father had wanted him to learn.

It didn't make him decide not to act, but it gave him pause.

The eight of them had all been crammed into the mortals' small building at first. He decided that to clear all of their heads, he should show them the mortal beverage of coffee. Erik had decided to stay where he was but Jane and Darcy had decided to join them.

They were barely out of the door when Sif's arm shot out in front of his face and everyone halted. In her hand, hovering inches from his neck was an arrow.

They looked at each other in shock.

"What just happened?" exclaimed Darcy.

"There!" Cried Volstagg, spotting the archer who'd shot the arrow peeking over the ridge of one of the rooves. He was perched so that he was partially hidden by it. Fandral immediately drew his bow and shot another arrow at him. He dodged it quickly letting it bounce off his golden helmet with a clang that must have left him disorientated. He slunk down and tried to escape behind the building. Sif chased after him.

Without warning, an explosion rang out from behind them and, through the dust that had been thrown into the air, a dagger came straight for Thor's chest. This time it was blocked by Hogun's sword. He parried it round and back onto the attacker who they could see now that the dust was clearing and nearly forced it up to his neck until he managed to scramble out of the way and ducked under the sword, thrusting back again his much more versatile weapon to Hogun's stomach who dodged with a spin and regained his stance.

Before Hogun had time to think, another swordsman had hit him from behind, then barrelled his way over to Thor. He was stopped by Volstagg, his huge frame and weapon blocking his path

As Fandral dropped his bow and pulled his sword from its sheath, Thor, angered, pulled out his spare and held it aloft himself. He was immediately shocked by the weight of it, cursing his mortal body, but was not phased. He had to fight with honour and glory, regardless of his limitations. He was a prince of Asgard!

The mortals had run back inside the house of coffee. Thor was glad for it. He worried that his presence here had put them all in danger, and he was furious at the men attacking. They seemed to only be looking to harm him though, ignoring the much more vulnerable mortals. He was glad for that.

A few yards away, the first attacker – the archer – was forced to retreat back to the main group as Sif outmaneuvered him with her spear.

From there, the fight didn't last long. The attackers were severely outnumbered and outmatched now that they had lost the element of surprise. Very quickly, their bodies lay dead on the desert floor.

All of them sheathed their weapons.

"These men were Einherjar," said Sif, looking over at their traditional golden armor.

"That makes no sense!" said Volstagg. "Why would anyone from Asgard's own army attack us here on Midgard?"

"And they were clearly outmatched," said Fandral. "It was the five of us here against the three of them. They surely could not have expected to win this fight."

Sif furrowed her brow. "Perhaps they did not know that we were here. Perhaps they thought they would only be fighting Thor – who is currently mortal and…" she paused, looking at Thor who looked indignant at what she was about to say. "Well, not helpless. I'm sure you would have fought them valiantly. But they would have fought a single weakened opponent like cowards."

As they spoke, they were approached from behind by the agent Coulson and some of his fellow agents – those that had been tracking him since he had been let go from the prison of fabric surrounding Mjolnir.

"Donald," he said to Thor as the others parted ways for him. There was an almost amused glint in his eye. "I don't think you've been completely honest with me."

Thor almost laughed. "Nay, you are right. And I apologise for my dishonesty, my friend."

Sif ignored the mortal newcomer. "This was Loki! It must have been. He is in control of the Einherjar. He tried to have you killed!"

"Loki?" asked Coulson.

"My younger brother."

"But why?" asked Fandral.

"He already told you that your father is dead," she said to Thor. "And he brought in the Jotnar on the day of your coronation. He wants your place on the throne. I'm sure of it!"

"And he doesn't know we're here," said Volstagg. "He forbade us from joining you here!"

"But what can we do?" spoke up Hogun.

"I will speak with him," said Thor, his glare hard with new determination. He raised Fandral's sword in the air. "We go back to Asgard. Heimdall!"

The sky around them roared. A huge beam of destructive light crashed into the ground and engulfed the five Asgardians. The two SHIELD agents accompanying Coulson jumped out of their skins.

Once the light disappeared, all of the Asgardians were gone.

"Well, that's that then," said Coulson.

"What the hell!"

* * *

Loki arrived in the healing chambers a while later. No one noticed him at first. A few people looked up at him, then widened their eyed and bowed their heads to him. Some of them acknowledged him but forgot to use the etiquette required for the king. He was very often in the healing rooms so it made sense that they wouldn't immediately remember that they needed to, but he thought that they should have made that connection after he forced them to trek across the whole palace and back.

He couldn't see Eir in the first room, but he could see Sara who, while still keeping an eye on him, was no longer sat next to her patient in fear that something would go wrong with his condition. Loki made his way over to her.

"Loki, hello." She greeted. "Do you need some…" she trailed off and her eyes widened. "My king! I meant to say. I apologise." She bowed awkwardly. "What brings you here?"

Loki pulled out the two pouches. "I suspect that these may be poisoned."

Sara's eyes widened. "You'll never believe what a coincidence this is! A man was poisoned just today who carried the poison himself in one of these pouches. Of course, it was probably an accident. He's the man lying unconscious over there."

Loki tried to appear surprised.

"Loki?" came Eir's surprised voice from behind him. "My king."

Loki turned around to face her, as did Sara.

"I did not expect to see you here…" she continued hesitantly. Unsure if he was still upset with her after their last conversation. "Is everything alright?"

"In a manner of speaking," he replied.

"What do you mean? What's happened?"

Loki gestured over to Sara who was scanning the pouches with one of the devices.

Sara looked up at them worriedly after a few seconds, holding them back for Loki to take. "You're right. They have been poisoned. Eisjenvenom. Just like the one we found this guard with."

"Thank you. That was what I needed to know. I'll leave now."

"Loki, your Majesty, you can't just leave with no explanation of this…"

But Loki was already gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long everyone. I wan't really happy with how this chapter was so I wanted to edit it but I've had exams and nothing actually got done so I'm going to post it now so that I actually do it. Sorry about that everyone.
> 
> Anyway, so here we have a random flashback and then on with the chapter.

_Two weeks before the coronation…_

Loki knew that he needed to speak to his father about Thor's coronation. The unspoken words between them had been constantly grating at him, and it only became more urgent as the days, then weeks, then months went by. He only had two weeks before the coronation went ahead, and he didn't know what to do about it. His father would never listen to him if he said that Thor wasn't ready, but he had to try anyway. He could put it off no longer.

He strode through the halls leading to the throne room with determination, not looking up to acknowledge the guards that stared curiously after him, knowing that if he stopped to think about it then he would freeze and his resolve would leave him. He reached the throne room door confidently and entered the room.

"Father!"

Odin straightened on his throne to look down at Loki, eyes not fully leaving the document he was reading through.

"Loki. What brings you here?"

Loki opened his mouth to speak. Then words failed him. His earlier resolve drained away and the spark of confidence that led him to confront his father left him completely. He tried to speak again and found he couldn't find any words to say.

His father put down he piece of parchment and focused his full attention on Loki. "My son, does something trouble you?"

Loki once again found his voice refuse to obey his command. He forced his head to shake, first hesitantly, then more clearly. Finding his voice again, he managed to reply. "No Father." He broke eye contact and continued to shake his head for slightly too long before realising and forcing himself to stop.

Odin frowned, studying Loki closely. "Then what is it you wished to speak to me about?"

Loki looked back up at him, pausing for a moment too long.

He froze, then came up with a different topic; one much safer than his brother. "How do you cross between the realms?" he asked. His face was relaxed as he asked but he hung his head, mentally kicking himself while still immensely relieved that he didn't have to actually voice his grievances to his father.

"With the Bifrost" Odin replied.

"Without the Bifrost I mean," not pointing out that Odin knew what he meant.

Odin's eyes bore into Loki's "I think you already know how to cross between the realms without the aid of the Bifrost"

Loki paled, thrown off balance and not sure whether to take that as an accusation. "That's… that's not what I meant… I… And I doubt that anything I might have found is what allows you to travel. I know you use something referred to as dark energy somehow, but I can't find any mention of it in any of the books in the library."

"There wouldn't be. There is no way for you to learn to gather it and use it to cross the realms, at least not yet. Why do you wish to know?"

"I'm just curious. At least can you tell me how it works?"

"It is a wide topic and I do not have nearly the time I would need to explain it to you. I apologise Loki."

"Because you need to spend all your time teaching Thor about being king" He added with an edge of bitterness, before realising what he'd said and who he'd said it to and hoped that his father would let it go.

"In part yes." Odin sighed. "There is much I need to teach him before his coronation."

"He's not…" He began and cut himself off, now completely abandoning any notion of what he'd truly come to talk to his father about. "I understand father. I won't bother you any longer then."

Odin watched as his son turned to leave, looking crestfallen and poorly disguising his frustration. "Is that all you wished to discuss with me?"

Loki looked over his shoulder at him again. "Yes, that was all."

"There was nothing else?"

"No."

Odin hesitated for a few moments, deciding whether to press further. "Farewell then Loki."

"Goodbye Father."

Loki began to leave. As he did so, he felt a strange wave of dizziness pass over him. He anchored himself to the surroundings with his seidr, but felt it not move at his command, feeling weighed down and sticky - smothered. He pulled out immediately and tried to focus on his immediate surroundings as the weight increased and he fought the inescapable feeling of drowning.

Then, as quickly as the sensation had come upon him, it retreated and everything returned to normal.

"Oh and Loki," said his father.

He turned back, trying to appear as though nothing was wrong.

"You may find more success searching in places less accessible than the palace library."

Loki nodded, then turned away again and left, the sound of his footsteps echoing through the throne room. Odin watched his retreating form and, as Loki turned the corner, his gaze lingered there for a while. He then sighed and picked back up the parchment he was reading and the pen lying underneath it.

Loki walked down the corridor. When he had turned another corner and was no longer in sight of the guards, he turned to face the wall and banged his head against it, hard.

* * *

_The present day..._

About halfway back to the throne room, while walking by the training grounds by the Bifrost bridge, Loki heard Sif's voice coming from around the corner and instinctively ducked behind a pillar. He stood stock still, confused as to why Sif was back here. He then heard Volstagg's voice.

"Thor, how do you plan on confronting your brother?"

His breath caught in his throat. Thor was there! What?

Thor didn't respond, though Loki heard his heavy footsteps moving quickly, as though he was running.

Sif answered, "He must answer for this! We knew he was up to something before we left," before she, too, picked up her pace.

"Must we…" Fandral said but gave up and ran after them.

The voices became quieter as they moved quickly away from him. Loki looked out at them from behind the pillar to see them all striding in the direction of the throne room. All of them except Thor, who wore strange clothing and did not have his hammer, had their weapons ready to hand.

Why had he not foreseen this? He should have known this would happen. All of them hated him, of course they would come back with Thor to challenge him. He shouldn't have expected any better of Heimdall either, but he had given the traitor one shred of undeserved trust and now he was now paying for it.

So, they were going to the throne room - to confront him no doubt. He looked around him, then slipped into one of the spare practice rooms, where three sets of the guards' armour hung on the wall. He projected an illusion of himself into the throne room to wait for them.

* * *

Only a few minutes later, Loki heard footsteps coming towards the throne room through the ears of his illusion, though he knew that it would take much longer for Thor and his friends to get there from the practice rooms. Loki stopped everything where he was in the practice rooms and closed his eyes to focus on what was going on around his illusion in the throne room.

His uncle Freyr, the king of Vanaheim, strode towards him, followed by a small ensemble of guards and servants. General Tyr walked to his left.

"King Freyr!" He inclined his head towards him in a courteous but noncommittal bow. Freyr did the same.

"King Loki. I must admit that it is strange to see you sat upon your father's throne."

Loki knew that he needed to be courteous to Freyr as the king of another realm, one with whom relations were and always had been strained, but he couldn't contain his panic. Thor was coming! Freyr could not be in the throne room when Thor came to challenge him!

"Why have you come here? What is it you wish to speak to me of?" He asked, jumping straight to the point. He didn't have time for trivial conversation. He tried to focus his attention on Freyr rather than the entrance to the throne room, though his eyes kept glancing up.

"'Tis not that serious," Freyr began. "I firstly wished to congratulate you on your regency."

Loki nodded his head at that, frustrated that Freyr took the time now for formalities. "Thank you..."

"And I wish your father a swift recovery. I hear this sleep is worse now than it ever has been."

Loki grimaced. Freyr didn't seem to notice.

"And I also need to send a messenger back to Vanaheim. I have not been able to return, as you know, since the coronation and I need to speak with my wife."

"Of course, don't think we are keeping you here. You have a realm to look after," he said, looking over at Tyr.

"Truly, it is hardly any bother. It is not as urgent as you seem to think. I do not mind remaining here for longer than planned. I left Gerdr in charge before I left to attend Thor's coronation, and I do not mind, myself, being delayed. I only wished to pass on a message to her. In fact, with the current state of affairs here, it would probably be best, if you need the ear of a fellow ruler who has been through war before."

"You are sure that you are able to remain here?" asked Tyr from his side. "You will not hold this against the realm?"

"Rest assured, my hostilities against Asgard were quelled once my sister became it's queen," he assured him.

"Then I thank you for your understanding your majesty."

"Is that all?" Loki interjected.

"Now that I mention my sister, are you aware where your mother is currently. I assumed that she would be with Odin in his chambers but, when I went, I could find neither."

"I know not. I apologise."

"Then I shall take my leave."

Loki thanked the Norns. Freyr turned from the throne and began walking away. Loki took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief. Then Freyr stopped and turned back to him.

"Oh, and Loki…"

Loki suppressed the urge to scream his frustration at him and hummed politely.

"Eir informed me that she had told you about certain… arrangements… concerning the future governing of this realm…"

Loki knew what that was about and cringed inwardly. The idea of this conspiracy made him incredibly uneasy, for more than one reason, especially now that he knew it was much more sinister than Eir would have him believe. He doubted he would be able to get any new information from Freyr, especially as his uncle would only treat him as a child. Besides, he knew that this would take time to discuss. Thor was coming. They couldn't talk about this now!

Tyr looked towards Freyr shocked, then at Loki, then back at Freyr, questioning.

"She told him?" he whispered in Freyr's ear.

Freyr nodded.

Loki tried to dismiss the topic and get them to leave. "Yes. I am aware. If that was all…"

Freyr shook his head, looking down his nose at him despite standing far below him. "This is not something you should dismiss so lightly. There is much that needs to be discussed."

"I am aware, I apologise," he said, glancing constantly towards the entrance. "But I do not wish to do this now."

"Eir was not supposed to tell you," Freyr continued, ignoring him. "At least until you came of age officially, if ever. But Eir never could keep secrets. She has too soft a heart for it."

"That's unfortunate." He snapped. "Now, if that was everything…"

"Loki!"

Thor's great bellow came from the outside hallway. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing, startled. Loki paled.

Thor burst into the throne room. The warriors three and the Lady Sif followed and backed him up from behind. He wore mortal leathers and did not even have a weapon. It would be comical, but Thor commanded the respect of all, under any circumstances. Such was the charisma of his brother. He advanced on the throne and Loki cowered back.

"Brother, I would have words with you."

Somewhere in there though, was a strange air of caution, of hesitance that his brother never usually showed. His presence, while not diminished by his clothes, seemed almost held back.

Loki tried to regain his composure. He was the king, he told himself again. He could not cower on his own throne before his banished brother.

"Thor, brother mine. What an incredible surprise."

Thor's face became more stern. "Do not play around with me brother."

"Then what brings you back here? How are you back here? Last I was aware, banishment meant staying away from the realm."

"We were attacked, on Midgard. Three of the Einherjar came down to attempt to slay us in our sleep."

They had what?

"Now that is a surprise."

His response sounded sarcastic. He didn't care. His head was reeling. He had not been unfounded in thinking Thor would be attacked while he was vulnerable. What he had feared had taken place. Loki dreaded to think what would have happened had Thor's friends not gone to Midgard, though he hated them for doing so.

Sif suddenly stepped forwards. The others didn't stop her. "We would ask why you sent your soldiers to kill us."

"I did no such thing."

"You have control of the Einherjar. You are the king. Besides, their dishonourable tactics could not be  
the work of anyone other than you."

Tyr tried to get a word in. "These accusations are baseless…" He was ignored.

Loki was sick of defending himself. He never could and when he did, everyone just assumed  
he was lying. He was doomed to forever lack sincerity. He'd long since accepted that.

"And what if I did? What can you do about it? I am your king!"

"How dare you!" Sif cried.

She advanced upon him. Freyr stepped out of her way but looked on with narrowed eyes at her and Thor.

Loki stopped himself from reacting to her, keeping his face blank and infuriatingly impassive. Pretending to be amused had always been his best defence mechanism.

"Remember your place Lady Sif!" he warned.

"You don't even deny it! You don't! You arrogant bastard!"

"I think this is quite enough," called Freyr from where he now stood beside the throne.

Sif ignored him. Loki stood up, facing her head on. He stood much taller than her and he looked down upon her.

"I need not defend myself to you!"

Sif pulled out her sword and held it up by his neck. All of the guards stood to attention immediately.

"Sif, this is not what we came for," said Thor.

Sif ignored him too.

Loki scowled at the advancing guards, and shook his hand, angrily commanding them not to get involved. He could deal with his own friends himself. He wasn't weak. He didn't draw his own weapon.

Unnoticed at the back of the room, another guard entered and stood by the group watching the conflict, too distracted to notice him, waiting to be called into action, which they hadn't yet been, despite the obvious threat to the life of the king.

"Will no one stand up to this traitor!" Sif cried to the people of the room. No one said anything. Loki smirked.

"And no one stands behind you, for once. It feels bad, doesn't it?"

Sif fumed. "Know this, Liesmith…" She went to poke him in the chest with her sword but at its touch, Loki's form dissolved. Everyone looked around startled before he reappeared. Sif drew back her sword, realisation dawning that he was only an illusion.

Freyr stepped between the two of them.

"This is treason. You cannot let this stand." He said to Loki.

"I agree."

"They should be sent to the dungeons, at the very least," he advised.

"Guards!" Loki called out. "Send these traitors to the dungeons!"

The guards all came over and restrained them.

"I expected better from you," Tyr chastised them.

Fandral ducked his head. "If I had the gall to stand up to him as you did, Sif…"

"Little good it did us, but I applaud you for trying," said Volstagg as they were all taken away.

Thor remained silent.

* * *

As they neared the dungeons, the guard escorting Thor veered off to the side of the group. Thor did not take much notice until they were a considerable distance away from everyone else. He looked at the guard in confusion who remained stoic and did not look at him. He then looked back at the group where, to his shock and disbelief, he saw himself, escorted by the same guard who held him. He tried to struggle out of the guard's grip, as would normally be easy for him but found that his efforts now with mortal strength did not even cause him to shift his grip.

He looked back at the guard. "What is this?" he boomed.

"Shh!" the guard hissed at him.

Thor's friends and the guards looked around them, confused, looking for where Thor's voice came from, then focused on the other Thor who was still a part of their group who looked up and said, "My apologies, I thought I saw something." Sif looked at Thor when he spoke and then looked around again. When her gaze passed over the real Thor, she made no indication of noticing that he was there. Thor looked back at the guard holding him, unbelievably confused.

"What did you just do? What is…"

"Stop talking!" the guard interrupted him, hissing into his ear again.

Thor looked back at his friends who were slowly being led away from them, not knowing that Thor was not with them anymore.

"Why can't anyone see us?" Thor's voice was softer now.

The guard rolled his eyes. "Magic."

"We're invisible?"

"No. Of course not." The guard pulled him around a corner and he didn't resist him this time. "People just don't register that they've seen us. More deflection really. Invisibility is really difficult. You have to think about what the light shows every person and craft it so that it shows what's behind you to everybody's eyes. I've told you this before. Many, many times. Honestly!"

Thor recognised that exasperated tone.

"Loki?"

Now that he thought about it, Loki probably had told him that before.

"Hello Thor." His tone was flat.

At first, Thor was relieved that it was his brother, then he remembered who ordered him sent to the dungeons in the first place.

"You told me that Father was dead!"

Loki laughed. "Not going to accuse me of trying to kill you?"

"You lied to me!" Thor continued, the confusion and hurt he felt resurfacing again.

"And you're surprised?"

"Loki, why?"

"You think I'll answer you honestly?"

"You let the Jotnar into Asgard! You told me our father was dead! You tried to have me killed!"

Thor found it difficult to be intimidating while not in his armour, bereft of Mjolnir and his hands securely held by Loki's behind his back. To Loki though, that didn't seem to matter. He flinched away from him and closed himself off, his face angry to match Thor's own. He remembered that he said that he would come here to talk to Loki, not to fight or, given his physical state as a mortal, to accuse and throw insults at him. He came here to understand.

"Loki, why are you doing this? We all think that you wish for my place on our Father's throne. 'Tis the only thing that makes sense!"

"What evidence do you have?" he tried to deflect.

"Do you deny it?"

"Whether or not I deny it never matters! No weight is ever held on any word coming from my mouth! Liesmith. Silvertongue. I am more often believed when I speak lies than when I speak truth! Believe what you will. It matters not to me!"

Loki pushed Thor around another corner and through a small doorway.

"Loki, where are you taking me?"

Around him were piles of clean linen, covered in layers of dust, stacked neatly on shelves on every edge of the tiny room, reaching right up to the low ceiling.

Loki suddenly gave him a hard shove which sent him flying into one of those piles. He tried to stand up but found that his head was spinning, and he had to sit back down again. How were mortals this frail?

Loki stopped, shocked that a small shove had sent Thor flying. He recovered his composure quickly and backed out of the door.

"Now stay in there!" he called over to him. "Don't try to get out. Just stay in there. I have reasons, it's for your own good."

Thor realised what Loki was about to do and bolted upright.

"Loki!" he yelled as Loki shut the door on him. He threw himself at the door and it gave very slightly but was then shut solidly again. He tried again but the door didn't move. Loki was bracing it from the outside.

"Loki!" he yelled again. "Let me out!"

Loki didn't respond. He heard a click as the door was locked. He tried again to break himself out, but the door didn't even creak. Thor longed for Mjolnir, or even just an ounce of his normal strength.

He tried instead to smash out the lock, but nothing even splintered. He then saw a shimmer of green encircle the door, knowing it to be Loki's magic. Likely some other spell to keep him trapped.

Then he heard Loki's hurried footsteps rushing away from him.

"Loki! Loki! Let me out of here! Do you hear me! Loki!" He shouted until his voice was hoarse and he knew that Loki could no longer hear him. Then he let out a roar and tried to upturn the linen rack, but found that, in his mortal strength, he could not manage even that.

* * *

After a few hours of sitting dejected on top of a pile of linen, Thor heard footsteps from outside his cupboard. He immediately leapt up and ran over to the door, beating his fists against it once again.

"Hello?" he cried. "Is anyone there? Hello!"

The footsteps outside stopped and a small voice came from the other side.

"Hello?"

Thor sighed in relief. "Who is this?"

"Rus. Who are you?"

"Thor Odinson."

He heard a gasp come from behind the door. "My prince! How… what?"

"Thank goodness you heard me," he exclaimed, relieved. "I must have been in here for hours and no one else has passed by!"

"No one comes down to this area of the castle usually. I'm not supposed to be here myself…"

"Well, it is fortunate that you are."

"So… how have you come to be here my prince? You were… you were banished… I don't understand!" she stuttered.

"It is a long tale," he sighed. "Do you know if you can get me out of here? Are you aware where the keys are kept? I believe that there is some enchantment on the room."

"Yes, my prince. Well, there is an enchantment on the room, it seems weak and hastily done though, not made to keep out another magic user, I think."

"It was made to keep me inside."

"It is a simple locking spell, but it was placed by someone with considerable power, I can tell that. Made to protect the already existing lock from being forced open. A more subtle approach might be able to pry it loose."

"You are a magic user?"

"And I am training to become a healer, yes."

"And you can break it?"

"I am already trying."

The green shield surrounding the door became visible once again to Thor. After a few minutes, it faded to yellow, then disappeared entirely.

"You should be able to break the lock now. It's no longer protected by a spell."

"I cannot."

"What? Why? You're Thor!"

"I have only the powers of a mortal," he admitted. "It was a part of my banishment."

"You are mortal?"

"I believe so."

"This was placed upon you by the Allfather?" she pressed.

"It was."

"Is that not dangerous? If you are mortal, then you surely are weak. Are you now vulnerable to simple attacks? If you have the physical form of a mortal, a simple knife could be fatal to you…"

"I suppose so."

"Right."

Rus did not speak for a few seconds.

"I can manipulate the lock. Not with magic, of course. All locks here are made to reject magic used to move them. But, with physical objects…"

"You can break it yourself?"

"Not exactly. Give me a minute."

Thor heard faint clicks coming from the lock, until it turned and the door opened. Rus stood up from where she had been kneeling as she opened it. She pulled two small instruments out of the lock and looked up at him but avoided his eyes. She gave a small smile, but her face dropped again a few seconds afterwards. It could just have been what she normally looked like, but her eyes were opened slightly too wide and she seemed a shade too pale.

"I thank you," he said to her.

Rus nodded.

"What will you do now?"

"I must now find some way of breaking my friends out of the dungeons. I cannot face my brother alone as I am."

"Your brother?"

"It was him who locked me in there. Even now, I know not why."

"Really," she remarked absently.

"Yes."

Unseen to Thor, she reached behind her back to clasp the dagger attached to her belt. She held her hand there for a few seconds, before releasing it and holding her hands tightly in front of her, eyes intently focused on the floor.

Seeing Rus' obvious uneasiness but misunderstanding its source, he patted her on the shoulder. She flinched.

"I am confused too. Do not fret. I am sure that we will be able to talk this out and come to an understanding."

"Yeah…"

He then realised something. "If this hallway is not commonly used, why have you come down here?"

"I don't know. Just… bored? I guess." She replied. "What brings you down here?"

He gave her a confused look. "As I told you, my brother locked me in here. He had me and my friends sent to the dungeon, but he took me and hid me here. He said that there was a reason for it, but he did not tell me what it was."

"That must have been… confusing," she said, still not looking at him.

"He even said that it was for my own good. I know not what he meant by that. How could…"

He was stopped by a sudden pain under his ribs. Rus stood in front of him, her hand gripping the dagger plunged in him stomach before releasing it, pulling the hand back towards her and clutching it close to her chest with her other hand. She stared at him for a few seconds, eyes wide in disbelief and Thor stared back at her, barely comprehending what had just happened. Then she bolted.

From where he sat back on Hlidskjalf, Loki went white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun DUUUUNNNN!! It's a cliffhanger.
> 
> I'll try and update the next chapter soon but this is where I've written up to so far so I have to actually write stuff now and I'm painfully slow at that. I'll try though. I have a good chunk of the next chapter written so it shouldn't take too long.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank's to everyone who commented on this! It really means a lot to me. I keep wanting to say what's going to happen next but I'm really trying not to.

Thor stared at the dagger protruding from his ribs. At first, he didn't realise that it was a problem. He had been stabbed before, many a time. Usually, injuries such as a small stab wound were insignificant. Loki used to stab him all the time - still did on occasion.

He pulled it out quickly, flinching slightly at the pain from it. Blood from the newly opened wound soaked through his clothes almost instantly. He stared down at it, startled. He lifted his jacket to see what was happening to him and his hand came away sticky, drenched in his own warm blood and shaking.

He tried to think about why that was happening but found he couldn't think straight. His head was spinning. He tried to steady himself, staggering over to the wall and resting on it. His legs would not move along with him. It wasn't long before his legs gave out beneath him and he found himself falling to the floor.

He knew now that he was in danger. This small dagger wound was affecting him as though he had been run all the way through. He tried to treat himself as he would as he would if he had been impaled. He took off his shirt and tried to wrap it around his middle, applying as much pressure as he could to stop the bleeding.

It soaked through.

* * *

Loki stood up and ran from the throne room, not looking back at the surprised guards who disappeared behind him. He then sprinted down the hallways of the palace. As he ran, he projected himself into the healing chambers.

Everyone looked up at him, startled.

Eir stood up from where she was kneeling next to the soul forge, knowing that something was very wrong by Loki's panicked state that, for once, he made no attempt to hide.

"Loki?" She was worried and confused. "What…"

"Thor. He's been stabbed. He is mortal! He is bleeding out!"

Eir's eyes widened as his words tumbled out. She instantly grabbed her bag of supplies.

"Where is he?"

"The dungeons, or close to. One of the abandoned corridors. The one that could lead to the vault."

Eir nodded. She turned to all the people in the room who were watching them shocked and addressed them, her tone commanding.

"We will need to transport him here. Follow me as quickly as you are able with one of the beds in the back room. Make haste. We have very little time!"

She turned to Loki. "And where are you?"

"I'm making my way there now, under the training grounds."

Eir nodded again, almost frantically. "That is good. You know what to do when you find him."

Loki nodded and disappeared. Eir rushed out of the room.

* * *

When Loki found him, Thor was slumped against the wall, sitting in a puddle of his own blood. He clutched his soiled shirt to his midsection. His head rested against the wall and his eyes were closed. He was deathly pale, almost grey and Loki couldn't tell if he was breathing. He ran over to him and took his pulse. It was still there and much too fast. His skin was cold and he had broken in a sweat. Now that he was closer, much to his relief, Loki could see the slow rise and fall of his chest, uneven but there. Thor shifted slightly at his touch and let out a moan.

"Thor?" Loki asked, trying to see if he was conscious.

Thor barely opened his eyes but murmured a response. "Brother?"

He was. That was a good sign.

"Yes brother. I am here."

Thor closed his eyes again.

Loki knelt down next to him, trying to avoid the pool of blood as much as possible.

"Brother, you need to stay awake." he tried to tell him.

Thor didn't move for a few seconds, but his eyes opened again after a while and he lifted his head up slightly. He looked up at Loki, but his eyes didn't focus. Though his expression was lax, he grimaced, and his eyes were twisted in anger, but his sluggish reactions gave the fury that he normally had a peaceful lid which unnerved Loki more than his shouting ever would. He clutched the cloth harder against his chest.

Loki pried it away from Thor to have a closer look at the wound. Thor tried to keep hold of it, obviously not awake enough to understand what was going on but, to Loki, it caused almost no resistance.

When he took away the cloth, he could see the extent of the injury. It was small. insignificant, but blood poured from it. He had lost way too much of it - it was a wonder he was still breathing – never mind conscious. Through sheer stubbornness if Loki knew his brother.

He needed to stop the flow, and urgently. Thor was bleeding out. It might already have been too late. He sat back and felt with his seidr, extended it to the wound in Thor's chest. He felt the blood rushing through his system, felt where it pooled and escaped, where there was an empty space and grabbed it, guiding it back through his veins where it should be, stopping the blood itself from leaving his body.

Loki himself grimaced and kept his eyes clenched tightly shut, both in concentration and at the strain. He needed to focus on every ruptured vessel, every direction of movement, every drop of blood and he could not see any of it. He almost didn't notice when Thor began to speak again, his voice thin.

"I am not weak!"

Loki tried to block him out.

"I am not," Thor continued, quieter still this time, closing his eyes. Loki realised what was happening.

"Thor?" he said, his hold on the blood faltering as he tried to keep Thor awake. "Thor!"

Thor didn't move this time. His eyes stayed shut. Loki retook his pulse. It was still there, but it was weak. He hoped that Eir would be there soon and focused all his attention on trying to stop him from bleeding out.

* * *

When Eir ran up to them, Loki didn't notice. She saw Thor collapsed next to the wall, pale as a corpse, his clothing and the floor around him soaked with his dark blood. Loki knelt over him, eyes clenched tightly shut in concentration as he performed a spell. She gently placed her hand on his shoulder to get his attention, trying not to shock him out of what he was doing. He opened his eyes sharply and looked up at her and his tense expression melted into one of relief. As he did so, a fresh wave of blood flowed over Thor's chest. Loki immediately looked back down at his hands and the bleeding stopped. She now knew exactly what spell he was casting.

"Where is he wounded?" she asked him calmly, though she was anything but. Panic in this situation would only make matters worse. She knelt down next to him.

"His lower chest," he replied. "Right side. I do not think it pierced his heart, but it won't stop bleeding."

Eir nodded. She placed the back of her hand over his mouth and felt a small puff of air as Thor exhaled. She then looked down at his chest. Loki moved his hands away slightly so that she could examine it herself. It would usually be a fairly minor wound, but Thor was obviously in very serious and immediate danger. Thor was mortal. He'd already lost too much blood.

"Do not stop what you're doing Loki," she told him. "Not until I tell you."

Loki nodded.

She opened her bag of supplies and pulled out a roll of bandages, a cloth and a bag of healing stones. She used the cloth to clear the area of all the dried blood, then crushed the stones in her hand and sprinkled them finely over the wound, then immediately covered it with gauze. Blood spilled out from the sides for a few seconds before Loki regained his focus, though he could feel the dust artificially knit the flesh back together. Eir wrapped the bandages around Thor's chest tightly, lifting him slightly to get them all the way around.

"Loki, you can stop now."

Loki opened his eyes. He breathed out and took his hands, which were covered in blood and still shaking, away from him, putting one of them up to his head.

"That should stop the bleeding for now, but he needs to get to the healing rooms immediately," she said. She paused. "It is more hopeful than it appears."

"Do not lie to me Eir. You know as well as I how bad this situation is. Your pathetic attempts to reassure me help nothing!"

Eir looked back at Thor. "Always assuming the worst helps no one."

Loki looked away from her too. She took Thor's pulse again. It was now much too slow. Eir had to suppress her panicked reaction to that, knowing that it would only make it worse for Loki.

Both of them looked up as they heard a clutter of hurried footsteps and the rolling of a bed.

"Thank the Norns!" said Eir, standing up as three healers rolling a bed hurried towards her.

Sara, who was one of the three, left the bed and stood next to Eir, looking over at Thor.

"Is he…" she started, eyes wide as she took in Thor's appearance. Trying to choose her words more carefully, she continued, "Does he yet…" She stopped herself again. Less bluntly, she settled for, "How does he fare?"

Eir understood Sara's meaning. "He yet lives. We must act with haste." She did not appear panicked, but Sara could tell immediately that Eir was worried, scared even.

They crouched down next to Loki by Thor's side. Sara addressed the others who did not seem sure what to do, ignoring etiquette in her haste. "Help us move him onto the bed! Kristina, the monitors. Loki, set up the healing field – slow down, not speed up. We need to get him to the rooms immediately."

Loki did not seem to notice that Sara had given him orders beyond her station with him as king, or if he did, he made no protests. He nodded his head and rushed over to the mechanism on the side of the bed.

Thor was much lighter than any of them expected. Eir could have probably lifted him onto the bed alone. Once he was there, Loki activated the healing field around him, which flickered a bit before turning on fully, then slow down everything inside of it. He hoped it wasn't just his imagination that Thor was breathing deeper now.

As soon as everything was set up, they all made their way as quickly as possible to the healing rooms.

As soon as they got through the entrance, they were swept up by the healers who were prepared for them, rushing around in organised chaos to save Thor's life. Loki stayed close to his unconscious body, unwilling to stay too far away from him, though he tried not to get in their way.

People were already ready on hand with synthetic blood. They reached the correct place quickly and transferred him from the transport bed onto the main one, before they were able to hook the correct drains into him and steadily increase the blood in his body.

Sara gave Loki the signal and he once again activated the healing field, this time to speed up the healing processes rather than slow down what happened in the body.

"Keep an eye on that," Eir said to him, pointing to the readings. "Alert me if they get to low or spike in either direction. We need to prepare the soul forge."

Loki nodded and turned back to the machine. It stayed steady, spiking every second or so in time with his heart and shimmering with each exhale. It was a reassurance that Thor was still alive.

How could their father have made Thor mortal? He was supposed to be wise! Surely he could have seen how much danger he would be putting him in. Was he really so angry that he had taken from him his birth right, home and inevitably his very life in one fell swoop? He hadn't thought that his father could ever be that angry with Thor. Honestly, he thought that he was completely blind to all of his faults, while hyperaware of Loki's own. Perhaps that was not the case.

Was this what he wanted? He had purposefully tried to show his father Thor's flaws by ensuring that he would act to display them clearly – though he had never meant for them to reach Jotunheim. It had gotten out of hand, and he had quickly lost any semblance of control that he thought he had. But was this what he wanted? He wanted Thor brought low; he wanted him humiliated; he wanted to shine brighter than Thor for once in his moment of disgrace. But for Thor to nearly die…

He never wanted that.

That brought another question to the forefront of his mind: if Thor was mortal now, would he wither away and die as they did in a handful of years? If that truly was the case, he could not think of a harsher punishment. At least an immediate death sentence would be over in a matter of seconds.

He didn't know if he would be able to watch Thor fade away in the blink of an eye, as the mortals he had befriended in the past had done, leaving him alone with his grief that no one else understood.

He hoped with everything that he had that the same fate would not befall Thor.

Thor's face was still scarily grey, but it had definitely gained some colour since he had been brought here. He looked around to check that no one was paying too much attention to him and reached his arm through the golden barrier to hold Thor's cold hand in his own.

"Loki…"

He startled, almost releasing his hand self-consciously and looked around at Eir who stood behind him, looking as though she was reluctant to disturb him.

"I think it best if you find your mother."

He looked back down at Thor again, tightening his grip on his hand. "Surely I am needed here?"

"Sara can take over for you. Your mother needs to be here."

Loki looked down. Without saying a word, he released Thor's hand quickly and clenched his own fist close to him. He then gave a barely distinguishable nod and left the room.

* * *

It only took a few minutes for him to reach his chambers. When he appeared in the doorway, his mother looked at him, at first surprised that he should show up in person. Then she noticed the blood coating his arms and how he shook ever so slightly. His expression was still mostly blank, but Frigga could see how his eyes were slightly widened and the paleness that he couldn't disguise as easily. His breathing was faster than normal.

"What's happened."

Loki didn't move further into the room. "You are needed in the healing rooms," he replied with a detached tone and blank face. To his mother though, that only made it clear to her that he was deeply troubled by whatever was happening in the healing rooms.

She stood up quickly and walked over to the door, then followed him as he turned and led her back there.

When they arrived, Frigga was horrified by what had happened and rushed to Thor's side immediately. They had moved him to the soul forge where they carefully displayed with the ethereal dust what had happened to Thor's chest, so that they could properly treat the damage.

Feeling out of place now that Frigga was there but unwilling to leave, Loki sat on one of the steps over the other side of the room and remained there for a long time, silently listening as the healers worked, and the atmosphere of the area calmed down.

After a while had passed, he heard the rustle of fabric as someone came over from behind him. As they neared, he realised that it was his mother. She carefully came beside him and sat with him on the stairs.

"Your brother's condition is now stable," she told him.

"That is good." Replied Loki, not looking at her.

"You saved his life."

Loki still didn't move.

"If you hadn't reached him when you had, things would be very different now."

Loki put his hands together and stared at them intently.

Frigga was silent for a few seconds, then wordlessly put her arm around Loki's shoulders.

"You have done well."

He finally let himself lean into her embrace.

* * *

As midday became afternoon, after Loki had finally left and after much deliberation, Eir cornered Frigga in a relatively private corner.

"I know this may not be the time my queen," she began.

"What is it?" Frigga replied.

"I know that you and Loki…" she paused and looked over her shoulder, then spoke in a much more hushed tone, "…Relocated the Allfather somehow. At the time I thought it was unnecessary but…"

"This incident does rather shed a new light on that."

"Rather," she agreed. "Thor himself has been targeted now. Though these rooms are practically my home and I know no place that I would rather be if in trouble, Thor is in the same danger here. All that could wish to harm him know where he is. Their first attempt failed, but if they should try again…"

"They cannot be allowed to succeed."

"Exactly."

"Then do you propose we move Thor as we did Odin?" asked Frigga.

"I know not what else to do, at least at this moment, without doing something drastic."

"It is not a permanent solution," she cautioned.

"I know, but it is the best option we have at the moment."

Frigga sighed. "I agree with you, though I wish it were not so."

"I will not ask you where you keep the king in hiding, not in a place as open as this, but would bringing Thor to the same place be possible? It would be a temporary solution but nonetheless…"

"I think that is all we can do."

Eir looked over her shoulder, then looked back at Frigga. "I will make the arrangements for Thor to leave."

"Remember that this must be done with the most possible discretion."

"I will."

* * *

It was late afternoon when Rus peeped her head around the corner and looked into the healing chambers. Thor was no longer being attended to in them, which somehow relieved her. She did not know what that meant for him, if he was alive or not. She didn't know which she wanted to be true.

She couldn't bring herself to go back in there. She stayed waiting outside of the entrance. As people came in and out, she tried to hide herself further, but they barely noticed her. She didn't want to be seen. She had washed her hands - more times than she could count. She had washed her dress. She had washed out any of the evidence of what she had done. Yet, she couldn't shake the instinctual fear that someone would see through her.

But she couldn't hide forever. Eventually, she collected herself together and walked through the entrance. No one took any special notice of her. No one knew. But she felt exposed and raw.

"Rus!"

She heard her name called and stopped dead.

It was Eibi, beckoning her over to the table where she sat in the corner.

"Are you alright?"

"I am fine."

Eibi raised an eyebrow. "No you're not."

They were interrupted by Sara. "Girls, do you mind helping me tidy up the soul forge, if you're not busy? After all that with Thor, goodness!"

"No, we don't mind," said Eibi. She then looked at Rus and bit her lip. "We can do that can't we?"

Rus tried to compose herself and nodded.

"You weren't there for that were you! It was exciting. Not in a good way. No. That sounds bad. A lot of… things occurred. It's a shame you missed it. Thor nearly died. You should have been there."

Rus tried to smile.

Sara came over to her, noticing that she was obviously distressed.

"Are you alright child?" Sara sat down next to her.

"I am fine," she responded again.

Sara didn't contradict her, she just wrapped her in an embrace. Rus felt safe. It made her feel better and she hated herself for it.

Eventually, Sara broke off and patted her on the shoulder. "Do you feel like you can help with clearing up?"

Rus nodded her head. "I can. Yes. I am fine. You do not have to worry about me."

"Nonsense, child."

Sara stood up and reached out her hand for Rus to take. She took it, wiping the traitorous tears that she didn't even notice had been leaking from her eyes, and stood up.

Led by Eibi who tried to look reassuring, they came out of the corner and walked further into the room. Fairly quickly, some of her other friends who had noticed that something was wrong, came over to her.

"Are you ok?"

"Has something happened?"

Rus gave another weak smile. "You do not need to worry about me. It is nothing."

"Do you wish to tell us what happened?" asked Sara.

Rus' stomach dropped.

"Do not feel as though you need to." Sara continued. "It may help."

Rus felt like something was slowly burning out her insides. She shook her head. "As I said, it is nothing."

"You do not need to tell us, but your troubles are not a burden on us."

Rus felt her eyes water. Surrounded by her friends who cared so much about her, she had never felt more alone.

* * *

Loki sat on Hlidskjalf, glaring daggers at the girl who had dared to make an attempt on Thor's life from across the citadel. He watched her as she retook her position as if nothing had happened and integrated herself back among those he thought he trusted with a cloak of innocence. Truly, who could he trust? If people existed among the common people who he would have never thought to consider the loyalty of, how could he ever control the situation? There were tens of thousands of people in just Asgard's castle! How could he ever account for everyone?

For the time being, he couldn't see anything that he could do, but he would not leave it that way. The first thing to do would be to root out the one insidious traitor who he knew about.

He called for her arrest and the guards obeyed him without a word but with hesitant looks in their eyes. He couldn't deal with that now. He didn't need their trust - just their obedience.

He sat back on his throne and tried to puzzle through in his head how to proceed.

A while later, he was interrupted from his thoughts by someone calling out from the other end of the throne room. "My king!"

Loki groaned internally.

An ensemble of about a dozen people from healing rooms walked up to Loki, led by Sara who strode towards him purposefully. Escorted along by the guards at the back, though surrounded by her friends, was Rus, who had tears running down her face. The pitiful display only made him hate her more. Her friends tried to reassure her, but she shrugged them off, keeping her head down.

Loki sat on the throne, glaring at them as they approached.

Sara stood before him. "What is the meaning of this? You cannot possibly suspect Rus of treason!"

Loki raised an eyebrow, staying calm. "It matters not whether I suspect her. I know she has. I watched her. She was the one to stab Thor."

"What?"

"That cannot be!"

"You cannot think she would do that. She wouldn't. That is not like her!"

Rus had moved her hands to her face and she seemed to subconsciously move as far back as she could, taking up as little space as possible.

Loki's attention snapped to her. Rus absolutely refused to look at him.

"And do you deny it?"

Rus looked up to the base of the throne but couldn't look anyone in the eyes. "I…"

She dropped her gaze again, her eyes welling up with more tears, though she seemed to fight them. She exhaled shakily, then spoke again. "I do not."

Loki leant back on the throne, raising his chin and the guards remained stoic. Everyone else turned to her shocked.

"Rus…" Sara said softly, not knowing what to say.

Rus finally raised her head to look directly at Loki. He held her gaze for a few seconds, eyes cold.

"Take her to the dungeons."

This time the other healers were too shocked and confused to protest. They watched as she was escorted away.

Sara turned to look up at Loki, disorientated, horrified and unbelievably confused. "I know not… This… How could…" She started by talking to Loki but stopped looking at him and seemed to be talking to herself. The other healers looked at each other, equally confused, though they didn't speak.

"You may return to your duties."

They filtered away slowly. Sara was the last to leave.

* * *

Down in the dungeons, Sif paced in the cell she shared with her now only three friends. Thor had disappeared. He had been acting strangely on their way down there. When she asked him what was wrong, he didn't respond. When she went to touch him, her hand met no resistance and his form dissolved. He was an illusion. Almost certainly one of Loki's, and to Sif, 'almost certainly' was more than definite proof.

Outside of their cell, another prisoner was escorted down to the dungeons. Sif looked at the innocent looking girl, not at all surprised.

The girl looked fragile. Tracks of recent tears streaked her face and she folded in on herself. Sif felt sympathetic.

"Hey," She called out to her. "You too?"

The girl looked up at her sharply, then looked back at the floor.

"Welcome to the club. Sent down here by a snake who's way too power hungry for his own good."

Rus refused to look up at her. Sif wanted to draw her out of her shell. She very much doubted that she had done anything to actually warrant being sent to the dungeons.

"What did you do anyway? Speak out of turn? Forget to address 'His Royal Majesty' by his stolen title?"

Rus didn't answer, and Sif eventually gave up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea why this was so hard to write. I jumped POV like 6 times in this 1 short chapter.
> 
> I did a lot of hand-waving actual medical things that I know nothing about by being like 'because magic' and it's another planet - they probably do things differently. (or, well, I can use that as an excuse)
> 
> By the way, my school has now closed, everything's on lockdown and apparently my GCSEs have been cancelled. I have no idea what's going to happen now. Everyone's been saying that this hasn't happened since the war, and I don't know what's happening or what to expect. I thought originally that this would mean that I'd have more time to write but my teachers are saying they're going to set us work to submit to them digitally and that it's likely they will create predicted grades for them to give us which will be our actual final grades, so all the work we do actually counts and I'm so stressed right now.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll get the next chapter finished soon.


End file.
